Microsoft kit up for inspection

12:04AM BST 29 Sep 2003

Small business IT may have turned a corner with the launch of Microsoft's small business server package in two weeks time.

Not only is the kit half the price of previous deals, at £440, but Microsoft is claiming that for the first time the technology will live up to the hype. The crucial change, Microsoft has said, is that while previous packages offered similar solutions to business problems, the true potential of the software had been held back by the high cost of complementary technology, such as broadband and wireless telephony.

Simon Edwards, of Microsoft Business Solutions, said: "There are more benefits to be achieved than there has ever been for less cost."

The software, called the small business server 2003, is targeted at firms with up to 25 staff and provides email, contacts, a calender, a simple database, secure internal and external communications networks, fast internet access and improved software that allows those running small businesses to operate the technology efficiently.

The hardware can be acquired from the likes of Dell and Hewlett-Packard and the total cost for a fully integrated, wireless IT system using laptops for a staff of six is now under £10,000.

John Coulthard, Microsoft's small and medium business general manager, said: "We recognise that cash flow is the crisis waiting to happen for most small businesses, so the trick is to help with that and to reflect that with a compelling offer: the fact that wireless has come down in price, broadband has come down in price.

"You know cars have come down 20pc in price, everything is basically going to mean that you get more for less."

Mr Coulthard acknowledged that many companies had been let down in the past, often because they had been sold inappropriate products. But he said this was changing, with manufacturers spending more time providing solutions rather than focusing on selling individual products.